Athletes Who Are Prone to Delusion
To be a great athlete—as defined by both talent and production—requires two essential personality traits: confidence and a desire to compete. Maybe a truly great athlete faithfully sticks to the "be humble" script throughout his or her career, but few doubt that they have these qualities.
But you don't have to play sports professionally to know that confidence and competitiveness are difficult things to keep in harmony—especially with the rest of your emotions. Confidence and competitiveness are great partners when taking on a new challenge or bouncing back from failure.
However, out of balance, they can go rogue—like feeding a Mogwai after midnight. Confidence transforms into arrogance and competitiveness becomes obsession. Together, they can form that unwieldy beast, delusion.
Athletes who appear to be under delusion's influence were once in a better place, and if you're a human being, you know these things can be a slow burn or an overnight phenomenon—it depends on the circumstances and the athlete.
It's the nature of the career; success can be painfully brief, failure can be excruciatingly easy and greatness always a little out of reach. Delusion can make an athlete grossly overestimate his or her market value in a contract year (or any year), hold on a little too long at the end of a Hall of Fame-worthy career or come to conclusions that no one else in the world seems to share.
Let's take a look at a few athletes who are prone to delusion.
Drew Brees
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In July 2014, Saints quarterback Drew Brees made headlines on the opening day of training camp when he said he could very well play another 10 years. That despite being 35 years old at the time (now 36), which would put him among just a handful of kickers as one of the oldest players in the history of the game by the time he retired.
“I’m not in decline like most guys maybe in their mid-30s. In my eyes, I’m not in my mid-30s, I’m 25. … I think it’s a mindset,” Brees told reporters. Obviously, he was reaching with the 10 years, but after leading the Saints to a 7-9 record last season and experiencing a slight statistical decline, some within the New Orleans sports media were wondering if they’d see even half that.
Drew Brees is a lovely human being, though, and one of the few players most of us wouldn't mind seeing play for another decade, even though the odds are way against him on this one.
James Harden
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In August 2014, Rockets shooting guard James Harden was declared “the best all-around basketball player in the NBA” by the only outlet that has the complete respect of James Harden: the mouth of James Harden. He made the statement during an interview promoting NBA 2K15.
In an earlier interview with Scoop Jackson of ESPN.com (h/t Ben Golliver of Sports Illustrated), Harden named himself the “best basketball player alive right now.” So at least he’s been pretty consistent with his statements on the subject. And he’s acknowledged at least one guy on his heels, having dubbed Golden State’s Steph Curry the best “pure shooter.”
Harden isn’t entirely crazy. Lately, he and Curry are dominating MVP discussions, according to NBA.com’s Sekou Smith. But there’s the little matter of LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook and another handful of guys that definitely have more of a claim on those titles than Harden.
Morris Claiborne
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In 2012, the Cowboys gave up their second-round pick in order to move up and select LSU cornerback Morris Claiborne at No. 6. Although owner Jerry Jones has made plenty of questionable moves acting as the franchise general manager, the decision to draft Claiborne is easily among the worst. In fact, last September, ESPNDallas.com’s Tim MacMahon declared him the “biggest bust in Cowboys history.”
Heading into the 2014 season, Claiborne had done absolutely nothing over his first two seasons in Dallas to prove himself a capable starter, which is why it came as a surprise to no one when he lost the job to Orlando Scandrick less than a month into the season. Actually, that’s not true—one person was surprised: Claiborne.
Upon receiving the news of his benching, Claiborne stormed out of the Cowboys practice facility. The next day he returned to plead his case. “I know I deserve to start. But that’s not what the coaches see. … I’ve worked for it. Night and day, I’ve worked,” Claiborne said. Less than a week later, he ruptured his patellar tendon, ending his season. He’s expected to miss the entire offseason, and his future in Dallas is uncertain.
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Curt Schilling
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Former MLB pitcher Curt Schilling has definitely taken a turn towards the delusional since retiring from the game in 2009. In the countless examinations of the downfall of his video game company 38 Studios, which went belly-up in 2010 and cost Rhode Island taxpayers millions, the word “delusion” is often used to specifically to describe Schilling in his notoriously failed business venture.
Although the fight goes on in Rhode Island, with plenty of name-calling and finger-pointing to go around, the story is largely over as far as the general public is concerned. These days Schilling is battling his own delusion on another front, the Baseball Hall of Fame; or, more specifically, the partisan political conspiracy he believes is keeping him out of Cooperstown.
After failing to induct anyone in 2014, HOF voters recently voted in four players, Schilling was not among them. Speaking on WEEI’s Dennis and Callahan show, Schilling said, “I know that as a Republican that there’s some people that really don’t like that.”
Mike Wallace
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In March 2012, then-Steelers wide receiver Mike Wallace was a restricted free agent heading into the fourth and final year of his rookie contract and was looking to score a big payday ahead of schedule in Pittsburgh. He ended up holding out of training camp and a deal never got done. The Steelers did, however, sign Antonio Brown to a five-year extension that July.
Perhaps the reason it didn’t happen was because Wallace had a slightly inflated sense of his own value. With just two seasons over 1,000 receiving yards under his belt, The Sacramento Bee reported that in discussions with the 49ers, Wallace was said to have been looking for a deal that would exceed that of Larry Fitzgerald’s 2011 eight-year, $120 million extension with the Cardinals.
Carmelo Anthony
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Although the NBA’s most recent offseason was largely dominated by the free-agent saga of LeBron James, whose Cleveland homecoming was one of the biggest feel-good sports stories in ages (outside of Miami), Carmelo Anthony’s future with the Knicks received plenty of attention as well. He had said during the season that he was looking forward to testy the free-agency waters, and he did just that.
But in the end, Melo ended up staying in New York, probably because none of the four teams he met with were willing to give him the max contract he was seeking. Not that the lack of suitors willing to pay him serious money lowered Anthony’s opinion of himself.
“I think I’m the most underrated superstar that’s out there, but that doesn’t matter to me. … So as far as caring about if I’m underrated as a superstar, and getting the respect I deserve, I don’t worry about that. I due time if everything goes well, I will get it,” Anthony said in an ESPN interview last September.
First of all, it certainly seems like he cares, and it seems like he’s worrying about that. And then there’s the claim itself—Anthony is not underrated. He’s not really overrated either. Considering his personal accomplishments but complete lack of championships and team success, Anthony might be one of the most accurately rated athletes in sports today.
Ray Lewis
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In January, retired Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis appeared on Stephen A. Smith’s show on Sirius XM’s Mad Dog Radio, and the discussion eventually turned to Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. The future Hall of Famer basically summarized and dismissed Brady’s career as a fluke.
Said Lewis,“The only reason we know who Tom Brady is because of a tuck rule. There’s no such thing as a tuck rule! If the ball is in your hand, and I knock it out your hand, whether it’s going backwards, forwards, lateral, sideways, however it’s coming out, that’s a freaking fumble. But guess what we created? We created a freaking tuck rule!”
There are plenty of people with plenty of negative things to say about Tom Brady and his Patriots, but even they had no idea what Lewis was talking about. At the time, Brady had won three Super Bowls; now, he’s got four. The tuck rule drama is only a chapter in a very big book.
It’s no surprise Lewis quickly began walking back his original statements. Of course, this is the guy who thinks the entire Super Bowl XLVII blackout was an orchestrated conspiracy against him.
Jose Canseco
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Retired loudly and proudly, juiced slugger Jose Canseco has always been a character. Not necessarily a good one, but a character nonetheless. Although he was certainly prone to bouts of delusion and self-grandeur throughout his career in MLB, Canseco has really upped the ante in retirement, putting it all out there on daily display in the form of his very entertaining Twitter account.
Last July, I put together “25 Jobs Jose Canseco Thinks He Can Do,” all of which were taken directly from his own tweets. Some were just vague statements Canseco has sent out into the Twitterverse, the technological equivalent of thinking out loud, like “I should be the mets hitting coach” or “Dammm I should be a. mentor. A type of all knowing wizard. after alli have done it all”
Others were direct job solicitations from actual people/places like, “Yes i will be glad to host the ESPYs. dm me @espn” or “Congrats @StephenAtHome I’m available if u need a side kick. I can be a good Ed McMahon” or even “I am available to replace Jay Carney @barackobama #yeswecanseco.” White House press secretary Jose Canseco…let that bounce around in your head for a few.
Randy Moss
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Future Hall of Fame NFL wide receiver Randy Moss is, without a doubt, an all-time great—we all know that. But he’s not quite as good as he thinks he is, mostly because he thinks he’s better than the legendary Jerry Rice, or so he said during Super Bowl media day in January 2013.
Moss showed another bit of delusion in November 2014 when he said he “would consider” coming out of retirement to play with Peyton Manning. Saying he’d take Manning’s call is one thing, but 37-year-old Moss (soon to be 38) insisted he was football shape, having not played a game in nearly three years.
Herschel Walker
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The assertions former NFL fullback Herschel Walker made about his physical capability to return to the league in April 2014 actually make those of Randy Moss seem substantially more plausible by comparison. Moss was an all-time great and still three seasons away from turning 40.
Walker may have been the USFL’s greatest player in his three seasons in the league, but his NFL career wasn’t exceptional—he amassed just over 8,000 yards in 12 seasons. Over the last three seasons of his career, which ended in 1997, he combined for just over 200 yards and one touchdown.
Yet Walker believes he could still sub in, saying, “I can play in the NFL today. I couldn’t take every snap. But running backs nowadays don’t play every down. … Physically, I can still do it.” Heck, he’s probably right. Walker could definitely take the field for a few throwaway snaps and gain zero (or negative) yards for a few games before getting injured.
Kobe Bryant
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Lakers great Kobe Bryant has a reputation for being blunt and honest, sometimes to a fault and/or the team’s detriment. His confrontational style—with teammates, coaches, and the media alike—is as much a part of what has come to identify his career as the fact that he isn’t fond of passing the ball.
But in November 2014, Bryant revealed a delusional side while discussing his Spurs envy, specifically regarding Tim Duncan playing for a discounted rate: “[Duncan] has been very fortunate…they’ve had the same guys since he’s been there. That really helps. … The same coach. The same system. Here I’ve had to go through so many different coaches, so many different systems, it’s crazy.”
What Bryant fails to delve into is that he is the reason so many of his teammates have left over the years. He’s the reason so many of his coaches have left too—some of their own volition, other of Bryant’s volition. He’s basically saying that he’d play for a discount like Duncan if the Lakers could’ve built what the Spurs have built, even though he’s often personally sabotaged their efforts.
Geno Smith
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Having been selected to replace Mark Sanchez by Rex Ryan in the second round of the 2013 NFL draft, former WVU quarterback Geno Smith has enjoyed two tumultuous seasons as the Jets starter. Well, as much as anyone ever “enjoys” playing for the Jets.
The thing about Smith is that he actually does seem to enjoy it, if only because he doesn’t seem especially attached to reality. After an unimpressive rookie campaign, in July 2014, he said he absolutely expected to be top five at his position by the end of the year. The 0.0 QB rating he posted against the Bills in October didn’t get him any closer.
In mid-December, Smith was talking like a man who believed he was well on his way to that goal. “I’ve shown flashes of being a Pro Bowl-caliber quarterback, but what we’re looking for here is consistency.”
Alex Rodriguez
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National baseball pariah Alex Rodriguez was never beloved in the same way superstar sluggers tend to be. Even when he was in his prime early in his New York days, Yankees fans seemed to keep him at arm’s length. By the summer of 2013, the number of arm’s lengths had increased substantially—is infinity arm’s lengths a thing?
Faced with a 211-game suspension for, once again, testing positive for PEDs, Rodriguez was permitted to play out the season while pursuing his appeal. The New York media was in all-out attack mode. “A-Rod Has Devolved From Diabolical To Delusional,” said Jason Keidel of CBS New York, noting the Yankees “third baseman is just too dumb to be taken seriously.”
Rodriguez did nothing to dispel that notion when he filed suit against MLB and his own union, unsatisfied with the result of his appeal, which reduced his suspension to 162 games. That was after dramatically storming out of his own grievance hearing six weeks earlier. In the end, Rodriguez went the longest possible way to go nowhere. The lawsuit was dropped in June 2014, and A-Rod finally stopped struggling.
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